Utah Solar Power Rebates, Tax Credits, and Incentives

Utah State Picture
The Red Desert of Utah

Solar Legislator Score:  Utah Solar Power Rebates, Tax Credits, and Incentives Utah Solar Power Rebates, Tax Credits, and Incentives

Ah, the “Greatest Snow on Earth.” Not a skier? Utah is also home to Moab, Zion & Arches National Parks, Bryce Canyon the north rim of the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell and more. Oh yeah, and the Great Salt Lake too. With all of those great things to see outdoors, Utah needs renewable solar power to keep looking good. What has the Utah legislature done so far to promote clean energy? Have a look…

STATE LEGISLATION

In 2007, the Utah legislature passed an amendment to the 2001 act that created a tax credit for installing clean energy generation equipment. What did this amendment do? Well, it extended the expiration date on the existing act (check out the details below under Rebates and Incentives).

Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. has taken some steps in the right direction too. He has joined the Western Governors Association Clean Energy Initiative. what’s that, you ask? One of its main goals is to produce 30,000 Megawatts of clean energy by 2015. That’s a great start. Most of Utah’s efforts have focused on wind energy though. Let’s ramp up some solar power too!

NET-METERING

In 2002, Utah set up rules that require all investor-owned electric utilities and cooperative utilities to offer net-metering to customers with renewable energy systems that generate up to 25kW (municipal utilities are exempt from this rule). The real drawback to the regulation is that it is capped at 0.1% of the 2001 peak operating capacity for each utility. With energy use increasing, that’s not going to let too many people in on the plan. Under the net-metering deal, you get a credit on your next monthly bill for any excess power you generate in a given month, for up to a year. If at the end of the year, you’ve still generated more power than you use, you give the power company a nice little gift. Keep in mind though that your gift is also saving the planet, so don’t let the net-metering policy discourage you from installing your solar system now.

STATE INCENTIVE PROGRAMS, UTILITY REBATES, UTILITY LOANS, AND UTILITY INCENTIVES

The Utah Department of Natural Resources is home to information about the Renewable Energy Systems Tax Credit. Utah residents can take a tax credit for 25% of the cost of installing a solar system at home (capped at $2,000). If that’s more than your tax liability, you can spread the credit over as many as four years. Corporate customers can take a tax credit for 10% of the cost of a system that generates more than 660 kW (capped at $50,000).

Until 2009, energy companies and commercial customers do not have to pay sales tax on renewable energy generation equipment, under the Renewable Energy Sales Tax Exemption.

The City of St. George< offers a great rebate of $2,000/kW AC generated from solar or wind power. The residential rebate is capped at $6,000, but that’s perfect for your 3kW system at home. Commercial customers are eligible for a rebate of up to $20,000.

Rocky Mountain Power (a Pacificorp subsidiary) offers a similar rebate of $2.00/watt AC. Their rebate is also capped at $6,000 for residential customers, but goes up to $30,000 for commercial customers. Hurry though, this rebate runs out on January 31, 2008.

Have a look at the details of the rebates and incentives that are available in Utah:
Corporate Tax Credit

* Renewable Energy Systems Tax Credit (Corporate)

Personal Tax Credit

* Renewable Energy Systems Tax Credit (Personal)

Sales Tax Exemption

* Renewable Energy Sales Tax Exemption

Utility Rebate Program

* City of St. George – Solar and Wind Rebate Program

* Rocky Mountain Power – Solar Incentive Program

EXAMPLE 3KW SYSTEM – HOME INSTALLATION COST

It’s time to install that 3kW solar electricity system you’ve been thinking about. In Salt Lake City, you’ll need to shell out about $49,500, but you do get $2,000 tax credits from both the state and federal governments. If you’re a typical customer using about 1,300kWh each month, your solar system should pay for itself in about 25 years since the state has a Great solar rating (assuming a rate of $0.0781/kWh with Pacificorp). While your system is paying for itself, you’ll also be saving over $880 each year on your utility bills. Your savings should grow too since rates will jump to about $0.08/kWh in 5 years and $0.121/kWh in 25 years. Even better, you’ll be keeping over 297 tons of greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere; that’s like planting 872 trees or taking 52 cars off the road. Check out these other important details and benefits:

  • 550 square feet of roof area required
  • Estimated property value increase of $10,520
  • Estimated utility savings over 25 years of $22,072


CONSENSUS

Utah is feeling the pressure from its neighboring states, like Nevada, California, Oregon, and New Mexico. Governor Huntsman and the legislature are starting to take some steps toward using renewable energy. It’s time to get to work on clean solar power too. That could really help Utah stay clean well into the future.

Click here to have multiple solar installers bid to upgrade your Utah home or business.

Read the 15 brilliant comments below or add yours!

Laraine Swenson Identicon Icon Laraine Swenson
Comment on June 4th, 2008.

Logan City also offers a solar rebate of 2000 a kw with a cap of 6,000 for residential and 25,000 for commercial.

Laraine Swenson, Logan City Council

Comment on June 5th, 2008.

Thanks so much for letting us know about that credit Laraine!

Jim Identicon Icon Jim
Comment on June 9th, 2008.

The “Personal Tax Credit – * Renewable Energy Systems Tax Credit (Personal)” does not work.

Comment on June 10th, 2008.

Link fixed. Thanks for the headsup!

tyler Identicon Icon tyler
Comment on August 28th, 2008.

I would like some information about placing solar power in a building. I do not know who to contact, feasibility, costs,…

Comment on August 29th, 2008.

Hi Tyler,

Fill out one of our expert contact forms and we’ll hook you up with a solar expert.

Cheers,

- Dan

Yea right Identicon Icon Yea right
Comment on February 10th, 2009.

Yeah right! Eventually everything needs fixing. Usually at a very inconvenient time.

So lets say I install a solar power system for 20 thousand dollars, I can now look forward to not having an energy bill for 15 or 20 years? I don’t think so.
Solar panels, like the shingles on your house, sit in extreme cold, extreme heat, rain, wind and dust that blows through the air.
I have a feeling they’ll need to be replaced before 15 years are up.
I have little solar lights in my driveway, and they have worked great. For about three years.
Now the solar panels on them have yellowed in the sun and are not as efficient as they were new. The batteries need replacing.

Comment on February 11th, 2009.

Yea right,

While true solar panels do indeed sit in extreme heat, rain, wind, and dust, depending on the manufacturer, you can expect they will produce at at least 80% of their original output at year 25.

Now, more solar installers are actually guaranteeing this performance and are including energy monitoring software so you can see how many kWh you produce over time. If production ever dips below that amount, they’ll come out and replace the panels at no additional cost.

Check it out and ask about energy performance guarantees w/ monitoring.

Cheers,

- Dan

Daniel L. Williams Identicon Icon Daniel L. Williams
Comment on July 13th, 2009.

You need to do some major updating on this site to keep the information current. What is happening as a result of the recent federal energy bill and the recent stimulus package to push solar energy in Utah?

Also, what is happening with national policy regarding net metering? In the past, only a few households will be able to join the program here in Utah because of the cap at .1% of Rocky Mountain Powers 2002 peak demand. That has now changed to 20% of the 2007 peak demand. See the DESIRE site at: http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=UT04R&re=1&ee=1

Comment on July 14th, 2009.

Daniel,

You are spot on we’ve got some work to do! We know it and will be updating our states shortly.

Cheers and stay tuned,

- Dan

Marian Dandridge Identicon Icon Marian Dandridge
Comment on July 15th, 2009.

I currently live in Florida where the state gave me a $20,000 rebate for putting in whole house solar. We are very pleased with it, but will be moving to Utah soon. Does Utah have any plans to invrease the rebate program? $2,000 is very little towards the output of $40,000. ilivhre@tampabay.rr.com

Comment on January 29th, 2010.

Any idea on wind power rebates in Utah?

Comment on January 29th, 2010.

Check out http://www.dsireusa.org. Click on your state, and you should see all of the available Renewable Energy and energy efficiency rebates.

Vince Identicon Icon Vince
Comment on August 7th, 2010.

Will municipal power companies be required to comply with net metering in the future? That’s one more reason that I don’t like government competing with the private sector. If it’s run by the government, it’s socialized.

nan Identicon Icon nan
Comment on October 4th, 2010.

Buyers beware. although the solar incentives and rebates appear to be a great bargain, the Utah rebate of 7500.00 will require that you complete a w-9 which means that in the end, you will have to report the REBATE as income on your federal taxes. This may pop you into a higher tax bracket.

Comment on October 4th, 2010.

Am I not reading the Utah tax code correctly? I read it as a commercial photovoltaic system would qualify for a 10% state tax credit. I am reading the 10% tax credit excludes other forms of renewable power generation of 660kW or greater, pushing those other forms to the $0.35/kwh incentive plan. DSIRE has the sales tax exemption extending out to 2019, so between the two, thats about a 15% credit while keeping the SRECs. It would only take a SREC of $50 to push commercial solar into the realm of conventional financing.

On a side note, congrats to Rocky Mountain Power for having some of the clearest rate sheets in the nation. If only other power providers would follow their example.

Dr. Shu Cheng Identicon Icon Dr. Shu Cheng
Comment on December 1st, 2010.

I’m the Executive Director of a non profit agency serving refugees and immigrants in Salt Lake County. We want to install a solar panel system to make our building green. Are there grants and private donations that would help toward the solar panel systems? I appreciate your suggestions.

Gregory Smith Identicon Icon Gregory Smith
Comment on December 30th, 2010.

We need to do the same as Colorado and Arizona and push the Public utilities comm. to let the cities and rocky mountain pwr to have a increase of around .02cents a watt and we could make the numbers work. Utah is way behind on incentives for the State we need to have a 2.00 a watt rebate with no cap like CO and AZ. Thanks Greg S, Solectric Systems of Ut. Also we may be able to Donate some of the project you are speaking of just e-mail me and we could talk,

Brian Identicon Icon Brian
Comment on March 4th, 2011.

Does anybody know if there are any solar rebates planned for 2011?

rick Identicon Icon rick
Comment on April 6th, 2011.

who is the most credible solar contractor in Utah?

Ken Lozier Identicon Icon Ken Lozier
Comment on October 18th, 2011.

I would like to install a solar power system and solar heating system on my house in 2012. My system would need to be 5kW for the electrical portion. I have two 60 gallon hot water heaters that would require solar panels for heating these to operational temperatures and use the gas part as emergency back up. I can foresee the cost of electricity and gas for the house increasing to double the current prices in the next 5 years as the world economies improve. Want to become as self sufficient as possible before this happens. What kind of tax incentives and rebates can I expect from Salt Lake County, Utah??

Cindy Pickett Identicon Icon Cindy Pickett
Comment on January 27th, 2012.

I am currently a resident of CA and am building a home in Moab, UT. How can I gain the state credits for solar panels? Do I have to become a Utah resident?

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